'BLACK DOG'

Black Dog is a record mostly about people. It's about changing and whether we do or don't recognise the way we've changed. There's also a lot about accepting things we can't change. A fair bit about death and loss, and some of the things we go looking for and never find. 

It was written on two different sides of a river. On one side the grass wasn't necessarily greener, it was just different, longer, somewhere cool to lay ones head for a while. In folklore the black dog appears as a ominous figure, but it's also a symbol of great loyalty and steadfastness. Someone once told me that Great Danes were bred to stand by chamber doors and keep their owners company. Well, the dog has been at my door and I have written this album for them.

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

I've always personally struggled with the process of recording. I find studios clinical and stuffy spaces, where the work and it's conception becomes compromised by time and financial constraints. One of the greatest struggles is finding a space where one can recreate the atmosphere in which the songs were first conceived. I finally found that space with Alex Bennett at Sound Recordings in Campbells Creek (VIC) in May of 2017.

The majority of the songs on this record were written in empty bedrooms towards the end of days; I've always found light important when writing, and in life in general. Some of the songs were written in my parents house, others deep in the South West of England, and the rest as I've lived in and left different houses in the last two or three years. Alex's studio doesn't necessarily have the light of these dimly lit bedrooms, but it has a certain quality of light and stillness which made this record possible.

I invited some of the most talented people I know, as well as calling on the last minute help of some friends-of-friends who have become friends for life in the process, to aid me in fleshing out the songs over five days, and to see what might become of them. Black Dogs is the result. Unfortunately I don't have photographs of everyone who was involved, but we were so caught up in capturing the songs, I think the last thing on anyone's mind was taking photos. 

I cannot express my gratitude enough: To Georgia Spain who painted the stunning cover artwork and took most of the photos, and who has supported and loved these songs unconditionally; in the process become an inseparable part of them. To my dear dear friend Matthew Colin - the back and forth sharing of our songs over the last few years has helped me immeasurably as a writer, and you have taken the kind of care with your bass parts (and design work) that only someone who was first and foremost a true songwriter could have taken. To Ben McAtamney, for stepping in last minute and just somehow knowning the feel of the songs, and for bringing your most generous and kind spirit into the studio. To the rogue ivory-tinkering genius of Craig Mattingley, to whom we lost ample time, sitting listening to you improvise from the control room. To the wizard himself, Glendon Blazely; from bringing my dream of a solitary trumpet in an empty hall, to playing the wind on a saw - there aren't many lone and originals, but you are, without a doubt, one of them. And of course, to Alex Bennett, who took the utmost care and consideration with everything and made sure I didn't hate the songs when we were done.

(Matthew Colin & Ben McAtamney)

Sound Recordings is a 100% analogue recording studio put together inside an old barn and based in the beautiful surroundings of Campbells Creek, Victoria. With plans to release the record on Vinyl from the beginning, we wanted to do the format justice by recording in the manner that vinyl pressings were originally designed for - all analogue and straight to tape. Recorded to tape, mixed to tape, and finally mastered to tape by Joseph Carra at Crystal Mastering (Melb), the vinyl copy of the record you receive will be pressed from the analogue master tape at Zenith Records (Melbourne) and will have undergone no digitisation. Pure and honest sound quality is Alex's passion.

It was an inexpressable joy making this record. I only hope that you may relate in some way, in listening, to the solice and undestanding I was seeking in writing these songs.

SO, IN THE END, WHY ARE YOU HERE?

This page is an opportunity to hear a little of the album and pre-order yourself a copy; in the process assisting in funding its pressing. If you're not a vinyl listener, then the album is also available for preorder in a digital format. If you'd like to hear these songs performed in person, in the quiet of your home, then that is also available. In the video at the top of the page you will hear the opening track 'Pheasant Country' (accompanied by some old home movie footage I put together). Below (via Bandcamp) I have also made another track available for streaming only via this page.

I would like to acknowledge that this album was recorded on the stolen land of the Dja Dja Wurrung people, and I have benifited, domestically and creatively, as an ancestor of white colonizers in this country, and as a cis white man in a society where women & non-binary persons have to fight every single day for their equal rights and representation.

$3000 - The pressing of 300 records in black 180gram vinyl, with full colour printed labels & cardboard sleeves, plastic inner and outer sleeves (no shrinkwrap), a double sided insert featuring lyrics and credits, and a download card offering a free MP3 download of the album.

The total cost of pressing three hundred records in this format is closer to $3500, so any extra funds up to this amount will continue to go towards pressing.

Anything beyond $3500 will go towards expanding the amount of records that will be pressed. 

If by some chance it gets out of control and a weirdly large amount of people want to donate then I will post updates as to the allocation of funds.

As it is basically a preorder page, I don't foresee any major challenges with this campaign.